“Information Please” famously gave away copies of the “Encyclopaedia Britannica” to people who sent in questions that stumped the show’s panel. The “Britannica”’s offices were in Chicago. In the summer of 1943, as part of a War Bond drive, the show left New York and broadcast from some “western” cities, starting in Chicago, where, in this episode, the editor of the “Britannica”, Walter Yust, was a panelist.  In consequence, there’s some Chicago-themed questions, in addition to famous forms of egress and people who had their names changed.  Note that Mr. Yust’s name is frequently misspelled as Youst.  I hope having both spellings in this text will aid future internet searches.  Then on “Gunsmoke,” Matt Dillon encounters a solid mystery with a clever solution involving cattle.

Episodes
Information Please
June 28, 1943
“Guest: Walter Yust at the Chicago Civic Opera House”
2:46

Gunsmoke
May 30, 1953
“Fall Semester”
32:09

Tonight, we present two examinations of the world of newspapers and investigative reporting, first comedy, then something a little more dramatic.  The newspaper comic strip “Blondie” was created by Chic Young and started running in 1930.  It is still running, as I record this, almost 92 years later.  It features the domestic mis-adventures of the eponymous Blondie, and her husband Dagwood, Bumstead.  And, in this case, their children, son Alexander and daughter Cookie.  The success of the comic strip launched a series of 28 “Blondie” movies, produced from 1938 to 1950, all starring Penny Singleton as Blondie and Arthur Lake as Dagwood.  The weekly radio series, also starring Singleton and Lake, ran concurrently on various networks and for various sponsors from 1939 to 1950.  This is a typical episode, with Dagwood accidentally getting involved in embarrassing shenanigans.  And I particularly enjoy some of the sound effects. Then real-life politician, writer, and newspaper publisher Will Rogers, Jr. plays a heightened version of himself on “Rogers of the Gazette.”  This episode also features young reporters hunting for scandal, and finding just a bit of crime and peril.

Episodes

Blondie
November 3, 1948
“Blondie and The Tattletale” aka “Alexander’s Scandal Sheet”
2:50

Rogers of the Gazette
December 30, 1953
“Investigative Reporters”
29:04